I've never met Mary, but I've received her newsletter for several years now, and I read her book Dare to Blossomseveral years ago. She's a wise, gentle soul, and when I won her cards, I knew this was a practice for me...

Each week, I shall draw a card, and focus on it to rediscover what my own inner wisdom has to tell me about it, and how I can put it into practice, and Make it Known to others - see, how my Word(s) for 2014 just slipped in there :D

My plan is to post each Monday, but yesterday just ran away with me, so here I am today. And this week's word is

Well, I had to smile when I drew this card, as I'm having 13 weeks of Giveaways, and the first gift will be winging its way to Canada this week.

But maybe, I need to think more about this word, this concept...

Can I be more generous with my time?

Can I be more generous with my praise? my love? my affection?

And what about the colour? This soft orange... a colour often seen in the sunrise, sunset...

It's Monday - a new day, a new week, and a new Word for the Week drawn from Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards. A single word to be held in my heart throughout the week to rediscover my own inner wisdom...

And this week it's

Oh dear, this is a really tricky one for me...

This is something I feel I've been searching for my whole life, and here I am, aged almost 50, and I'm no closer to finding it - let alone rediscovering it!!

Ho hum...

There's always the dictionary definition:

the reason for which something is done or created or

for which something exists

but as a typical Type 4 Enneagram person, I have always struggled with a sense of identity, and thereby a sense of purpose.

I've always been envious of those who know from childhood they want to be a pilot, a doctor, a singer. They have a definition, a direction, an ambition.

Yes, I've had 'mini-ambitions:

at 14, after reading Jude the Obscure, I knew I wanted to go to Oxford

after college, I knew I wanted to travel, so I spent a year in Kenya teaching at a Bible College

in my mid-20s, having met Nick, I knew I wanted to get married and have children

in my 30s, finally having the children I longed for, my focus was on being the best wife and mother I could be

in my 40s, I finally tapped into my artistic self and began to draw/paint/write, then the stroke hit

But none of these was a Purpose, with a capital P.

Ho hum...

And what of the colour?

It's the strong, regal colour worn by emperors and bishops... not a colour you find much in Nature, though it's very striking when you do!

It's not a colour I warm to much, or use much, though I did find these two early creations made several years ago

So, I'm gong to have to sit with this card awhile, and really ask and seek what it means right here, right now...

Already there's a glimmer in my morning reading:

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or

the mirror that reflects it.

Edith Wharton

Now, I've never been one to set the world alight, but I do like the idea of reflecting the light of brighter souls... I'm naturally a moon person, rather than a sun follower, and maybe, just maybe, that's an equally valid life-purpose.

Now, this is a much 'easier' word to sit with this week... Easier in the sense that I know it it, I seek to practise it every day, I'm comfortable with it...

I think Eleanor Roosevelt said it best (as she often did on a great variety of subjects!):

Understanding is a two-way street.

To understand another, and be understood ourselves, is one of the essences of life...

I don't know if Mary deliberately chose the colour, but it is perfect for the word (the actual card is a lighter blue-green than the photo I took).

It's a turquoise colour...

... the colour most associated with the throat chakra, with verbal expression, wisdom and understanding. not to mention the sea and the sky, calm and clear...

It's also the background colour of the scarf I wear every day to shield my neck from drafts...

and the colour of the moon in this collage by Terri St Cloud from Bone Sigh Arts which I have in my sidebar - I receive her daily email quotes. It's a colour she uses often in her collages, as a quick scroll through her prints reveal...

So, understanding is such a very good word to keep in my heart and mind throughout this week. I'd love to know how you understand/feel/respond when you see

Ooooh, what a word for this week! Truly, the synchronicity of pulling what seems to be THE perfect word out of the bag of Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards astonishes me sometimes...

I just love this word, and I can only have positive thoughts when I see it. To me, it's THE word to describe what it happening at this time of year...

As we move into the last week of February, the UK finally seems to be emerging from the grip - and floods! - of winter with signs of Spring emerging in the garden for all to see. Here's a wee selection from our own garden...

And the colour of the card...?To me, it's the deep orangey red I associate with dawn... as the sun slowly emerges over our neighbours' roofs...

This word, to me, is overflowing with promise... of new life, new light, new thoughts, new ideas, new expressions...And it has to be a perfect word to carry throughout a new week - who knows what beauty will emerge in the next seven days...I'd love to know what thoughts/feelings arise when you see this word...

________________________________________________________________________First posted 3 March 2014Another cracking word for this coming week pulled from the bag of Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards

I do love beginnings - a new season, a new book, a new project... The surge of energy, interest, anticipation... can't beat it!And as Lent starts on Wednesday, I'll be starting a new practice this week - I'll share more tomorrow :-)This will be a short post today, as I get my botox injections at 9 am. I get two shots in my right bicep, then 4 more shots in different muscles in my forearm. It's to relax the high-tone muscles in my paralyzed right arm. It hurts like heck for a few days, but then the botox kicks in, and the arm - and indeed the rest of the right side of my body - relaxes... ah, bliss!!I'll leave you with a few photos showing why the dark green background of the card is THE perfect colour for this time of year - enjoy!

Can you believe the card I drew from Mary's Rediscovery Cards to ponder this coming week??

Well, what d'ya know? Weddings are fun (a dear friend is getting married for the first time next month - can't wait!), and while Lent doesn't have a reputation of being fun, the story above certainly does! It shows the miracle of abundance, overflowing generosity as gallons and gallons of water are turned into wine :-)

And even though, I'm not a PINK kinda gal, I do think the card's an eye-popping, fun colour - exuding life and exuberance!

(had fun saturating the colour on these lilies!)

(found this photo in my archive - can't remember why I gathered all the pink things I could find...)

And to be honest, after the pains of last week, I'm ready to have some

Which takes me nicely to this week's Word for the Week, drawn from Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards...

What a perfect word for this time of year, as the days lengthen (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least!) And the fact that a little light goes a long way to dispel the darkness all over the globe...

Photo from Google, copyright J.M. Wigmore

And it so happens that the background colour of the card is very like the frosting on my free Mother's Day cupcake from the restaurant where we enjoyed Sunday lunch yesterday... Needless to say, I didn't eat the sweets and the icing (I am diabetic), but the kids enjoyed it, and I enjoyed some of the cake :-)

And before I sign off for today, I've finally drawn the winner of the Giveaway and posted this week's giftie... so pop over here to leave a comment or click on the Celebration Sundays button...

After a very busy, but very fun weekend, I'm ready for the week to start as calm and 'normally' as possible... so here's this week's Word from Mary's Rediscovery Cards

Such a lovely, positive word with so many meanings! My first thought is to the wedding we attended on Saturday - a very lovely service, in which we, as Tina and Paul's friends and family declared in church to support them in their new adventure...

Tina and I have known each other since Brownies (over 40 years!!), and she always said she would never marry - well, on Saturday she did, and Paul is one lucky chap and obviously very special to her!It was a lovely service with lots of singing and clapping, and a delicious afternoon tea afterwards. Here's the wedding cake made by Tina's mum and decorated by Paul's.

And the weather was supportive too - the forecast rain held off till we were on our way home...

Support is something we all need to give and receive from those in our lives. It is the life-blood of any community - whether that be in a marriage, a family, the workplace, or online. To be there to hold and help, in hard times and in good, is vital to our well-being.I'd love to know what you think of whenever you see this word...

Today's Word for the Week from Mary's Rediscovery Cards is a cracker - a truly favourite word!

From being a young girl, I have longed to be wise - never rich, never a beautiful princess. In childhood's fairy tales, I was always more interested in the wise, old person who could help our hero on his quest.Two weeks today, I shall turn 50. It feels a landmark - not least given my health issues! But also a life-journey landmark - the beginning of crone-dom, the beginning of a deep, inner wisdom.And the background colour - the same turquoise of the Understanding card, the colour of the throat chakra.But one of my all-time favourite quotes is from Jimi Hendrix

And my hope is, in seeking Wisdom, I will listen more and speak less...________________________________________________________________________

First posted 21 April 2014

Here we are, another Monday...In the UK, it's a Bank Holiday - an extension of Easter weekend - and for most schools, the last day of their Easter break :(And before I draw this week's Word, I must say a huge THANK YOU for all of you who stuck with me through my Lenten journey, and left so many lovely, lovely comments over the past 6 weeks! Lent is definitely a deeply personal journey, but it is SO good to know you're not walking it alone - so thank you again x

**************

Once again, I simply cannot believe the synchronicity of the card as I draw it from the pack of Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards...

Is this not the whole message of Easter? Of Spring? Of why we get up in a morning?? It is 'the thing with feathers with feathers' according to Emily Dickinson. It is 'an anchor for the soul, firm and secure' according to Hebrews 6.19.I am immediately struck by the colour - it's the same as Support which I drew a couple of weeks ago... I understand from Mary that the colours weren't chosen consciously but certainly, for me, Hope and Support definitely go together!!

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.

Dalai Lama

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;

remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Epicurus

What do you think when you see this small, yet powerful, word? I'd love the know :-)________________________________________________________________________

First posted 28 April 2014

What a Word for this week!!! I've just drawn this from the bag of Mary's Rediscovery Cards

How perfect is that?

Today I celebrate my 50th birthday - aware that for most of human history 50 years of life was a REAL celebration - especially for a woman - a very real blessing of abundant days, of surviving childbirth, hardship, disease...

And I am most aware of all my personal Abundance - my family, my friends, my home, all the excellent health care I have received over the years, especially since the stroke...

And the Abundance of Blogland - blog-friends, readers, folk who just drop by. Since I created this blog just over 5 short months ago, I've written over 150 posts, which have had almost 20,000 pageviews, and have received almost 2,000 comments...

These numbers are staggering to me, but not all Abundance can, or needs to, be counted - it should be just experienced, enjoyed and cherished...

Forty is the old age of youth. Fifty is the youth of old age.

Victor Hugo

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened up before you.

Monday was a Bank Holiday in the UK, so here I am today bright and early drawing this week's Word from Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards which turns out to be one of my most defining words. It is etched on my soul...

It is physical, yet ethereal, and so laden with meaning. It IS in the eye of the beholder, a thing of beauty IS a joy forever. And as Confucius said,

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

But I love, and live by, Emily Dickinson wise observation,

Beauty is not caused. It is.

And I saw it in every moment of my birthday and our Silver Wedding anniversary celebrations last week - enjoy!

I find the dark navy background rather authoritative - like the colour of police uniforms - it's not a colour to mess with!So I've made a choice - I am taking a wee blog break... A dear friend from California arrived yesterday, and my time and energy will be spent elsewhere for the next 2 weeks. She last came to England 10 years ago, so I think she deserves my undivided attention :-) xx

Phew! Finally back to blogging and more or less feeling back to 'normal'... My sinuses are still congested, and my energy reserves depleted, but I'm ready to start a new month (Hello June!), and a new week...This week's card pulled from the bag of Mary Lunnen's Rediscovery Cards is this lovely, lovely word

I am a perpetual student and nothing gives more pleasure than learning something - and I just LOVE that purple background :-)It just so happens to be the same colour as the title of the book I started reading yesterday...

... and this is book I'll be reading each day in June. I adored Janet's first book and was lucky enough to study online with her last year. She is a very wise woman, and I just know I will learn/experience/change A LOT working through this 30-day Soul Programme (sorry, I'm a Brit and there are only computer programs!) My hope is to post most days with snippets of what I'm reading/learning so far...It's just so good to be back blogging again - I've missed you all!!And I'd love to know what this new Word for the Week means to you...

What have you been learning so far this year? Can you believe we're almost halfway through 2014??!!________________________________________________________________________

I was certainly raised with the adage 'Honesty is the best policy', although as I got older I quickly realized that you could be TOO honest, and actually some gentle compassion was often better than brutal honesty! Does your friend really want to know if her bum looks too big in her new jeans???I've also learnt that the most important honesty is self-honesty - to seek to always ask myself to be honest, to be true to what I really want, really feel. This has been a ongoing, difficult strategy for a lifelong people-pleaser. I was in my 40s before I realized it was OK to do, say, what I wanted, and that I could say 'No' sometimes...I am also trying to be honest with myself as I work through The Lotus and the Lily this month, and to honestly look at the choices I've made and not chastise myself, but look at them, accept them, learn from them, then let them go...Yesterday's and today's entries have been about looking at the past, owning it, learning from it, seeing the gifts in it, and then letting it go...This is NOT easy!!!But I'm heartened by today's Bone Sigh from Terri St Cloud which arrived in my email box...

... it's tough to accept that I am a gift - especially when as I child I was always told I was mistake, I was born too soon (my mother was only 19, and had only been married to my dad for just over 10 months when I was born...)But if I'm honest with myself, if I choose to listen to my Soul's voice rather than my mother's(!), I can begin to accept I am a gift, and that in offering myself to those who value me 'and leaving the others to themselves', I can grow, my gifts and talents can grow, and my value and purpose in the world can increase...This is the kind of HONESTY I am seeking to cultivate, and I'd honestly love to know what you think of when you see this word :-)

Yesterday was a tad manic - getting two teens out the door for 9 am exams, then me to hydrotherapy. A really great session, but I did a bit too much and slept a lot of the afternoon...So here I am today, somewhat refreshed but aching, and ready to pull a Rediscovery Card from the bag...

'Tis a BIG word for this time of the morning!!From the Old French corage, from cuer 'heart', from Latin cor.I always like this - that Courage is heart-driven, heart-led. Hence, it's often seen as reckless, foolhardy... Your brain is saying, 'No, you're crazy to go into that burning building, to go back into the firing line to rescue your buddies, to get up in the morning when every muscle fibre in your body is aching, hurting...' But your heart is saying, 'I must do this! It's my job, my duty, my family depends on me...'There are so many faces of courage, many of them we never see. We never know what private battles people we work with, those we see in the supermarket, pass in the street, are facing, but I'm guessing most of us are more courageous than we realize...This week's readings in The Lotus and the Lily are about Forgiveness, clearing space in our hearts, our lives for good things to flow, and Forgiveness takes courage - to really forgive, to really let go, to really clear space...I did a lot of work last year to forgive my mother, to weep over my lost childhood... But throughout this past year her voice, which has echoed in my head for most of my life, has gradually receded and my own voice, my Soulself, has got stronger, and easier to hear.My hope is that in the coming years, I will have the Courage to give my Voice even more outer expression in drawing/painting, in writing/publishing a book, and this blog is the beginning of this tentative, heart-led life of

Oh boy, another good one! And truly I had to laugh out loud when I pulled this Rediscovery Card from the bag this morning...

I laughed because all weekend our internet connection has been cr*p - the vagaries of it have been driving me (and all the family) to distraction... It works great for minutes on end, and then suddenly disappears....**grrrrr**And I'm doubly frustrated as today the e-course I've been looking forward to for months starts, and the class members have been getting to know each in the Facebook private group. I made a couple of comments on it, but loads more have been lost in the ether...*sigh*So I laugh... at the humour of the Universe... and my own frustrated impatience... at what I so need to be and do right now, in this moment...

Just breathe...

Just be patient...

All will be well...

*grin*

I also know I need the heed this Word as I embark on this e-course - I have so many hopes, expectations, dreams of what it will be, could be, what I want it to be, as I so love the work of the artist who's leading it!And I'm drawn to this wee stone on my altar...

... as I know I am my own worst enemy when it come to my art-making. I am harsh, overcritical and unforgiving... I don't give myself any slack... I expect my drawing/painting to be as good with my left hand as it was pre-stroke with my right... Good grief, girl!!So, I pause... I look at this Word on the rich, lush, colour-of-life background... and I breathe in the Word deep into my lungs, my centre, my being...

I'd love to know what you think/feel when you see this Word, so do please share :-)

Such a interesting, often misunderstood, word came out the bag of Rediscovery Cards today...

I love the rich, purple colour as it's the colour of the third eye chakra - the colour of intuition, wisdom, creative intelligence...

Image from Google

... which corresponds to how important, yet hard to define, it is!

It's the last stage of grief. It's a vital step on the road to self-awareness and change. It's as Michael J. Fox, a man who has dealt with Parkinson's disease for over 20 years, says

Acceptance doesn't mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and there's got to be a way through it.

These are wise words, and ones I try and live by...

Accepting our physical limitations, and the day-to-day struggles we all encounter, is the way to peace and living lives of wholeness.

It's not passive, but a deeply conscious choice... to accept what each day. each moment brings... to experience it, then let it go...

Today at 9 am, I get my botox injections in my paralyzed right arm to relax the painful high-tone muscles, which would be permanently clenched if I didn't have this treatment. I know I'll have at least one day of high discomfort and soreness, but then the botox will work its magic, and gradually these muscles will relax, and I will sigh with relief - for the next 12 weeks at least :-)

This Word is perfect for this week, on the back of last week's Patience...

It's a timely reminder for me, as I've been getting a tad frustrated at my lack of artistic ability in this art course...

As Mr M.J. Fox says,

My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.

First posted 15 July 2014July is proving to be a strange month...After the busyness of April (Easter, my 50th birthday, our Silver Wedding anniversary), May (kids' exams - A levels and GCSEs), B's visit from the States and June (Kate's visit to the UK and Ireland, Wimbledon, the World Cup), it's strangely quiet...Yet, A LOT is stirring inside me - most of which I can't verbalize. Hence I've been somewhat absent from Blogland (mainly due to terrible internet connections - for 4 days we were without TV, landline and internet - the downside of getting services from just one supplier!)But all this is encapsulated in the Rediscovery Card I pulled from the bag this morning

The background's the same rich purple as Acceptance, Purpose and Learning - not a coincidence, I think! My physical body isn't very flexible - especially the paralyzed side - but my spirit needs to be... It needs to adapt to life changes (turning 50, being married longer than I've been single, our son going away to college...), not to mention erratic internet connections!!! And I know it's been said so many times before, but a tree is a perfect example of flexibility... Its branches bend and flex to the prevailing winds, yet it stands firm - if its root network is wide and deep enough...

I'm sensing I need to work on my root network (whatever that may mean), if I'm to practice flexibility... I'm hoping you'll bear with me if my blog posts prove to be somewhat erratic over the next few weeks...

It's been a couple of weeks since the last Word, but I've been practising my flexibility about posting... working around erratic internet connections and my 'need' to blog.So here's this week's Rediscovery Card pulled from the bag...

... a truly wonderful Word, something I'm always seeking - clarity of thought, of vision, of direction...It's the same rich orange background as Honesty, which is no coincidence, as I think one relates to, and informs the other. I know I see and think more clearly when I'm honest with myself about what I truly want/need.And it's the colour of the Sacral Chakra - the seat of our passion and creativity in the deep pit of the belly...

In the pursuit of Clarity, I'm planning something of a change in August. I'm signed up for both this (with a focus on images) and this (focussing on words). I don't know what will result, but I'm open to whatever may occur... I'm hopeful that after a month of wide-ranging openness, my senses will sharpen and refocus on what is truly important to me and I shall be blessed with Clarity of purpose and direction...I'd love to know your thoughts on this week's Word... What does Clarity mean to you?

My first thought was 'Ummmm, not sure what I think about this word...' with its Darwinian past and imperialist overtones, i.e. white Victorian males are the pinnacle of creation(!)But looking at the dictionary definition from the Latin evolvere 'to unroll, open, unfold' gave me a different image... of unrolling the scroll of a life story, the opening, unfolding of a flower's petals from a bud to a full bloom... And it's an ongoing action word, a present participle, a state of Be-ing...Moreover, the rich, dark green background is the same colour used for Beginnings and Patience, which is just perfect - There must be a Beginning, and then a Patient Evolving...

Cultivate the root, the leaves and branches will take care of themselves.

Confucius

This quote was used in yesterday's prompt from Lisa Sonora and her Root 30-day journal project which I'm currently doing. I've been realizing for the past few weeks that my Root lies deep in my Silent Centre. In response to July's Full Moon Dreamboard, I asked Liz Lamoreuxto make this mantra talisman for me

I'm realizing that every decision I make begins here - deep within - and I need to listen hard to the Silence that's rooted in my Soul, as I know every branch and leaf, every thought, every action is Evolving from this Root...One of the BIG things that's already evolving is my decision to commit to this AMAZING project 'A Year and a Day - Crafting the Book of You' which starts in October (there's a button in my sidebar). There are still places left if you wanted to join me on this incredible journey of discovery... Connecting with Angel through a mutual friend is just the beginning, and I can't wait to see what Evolves :-)_________________________________________________________________________First posted 11 August 2014Ummm, this week's Word out of the bag of Rediscovery Cards is another one I have mixed feelings about...

I think it's because the first thing I thought of was the ghastly talent show Opportunity Knocks, which aired for years and was probably the instigator of much of today's 'get famous, get rich quick' mentality. And those entrepeneur gurus who see every friendship, every contact as a business 'opportunity'...Then, I Googled quotes about Opportunity and found some wonderful ones, like this:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed

in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas Edison

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,

for beauty is God's handwriting.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ageing is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength

Betty Friedan

The rich raspberry background is the same colour as Support and Hope, which is interesting to me as arguably the way to make the most of any opportunity one needs both Support and Hope...

This week we await our son's A level results and we hope he's got the grades to go to uni to read Psychology. Further education is such an opportunity to meet new people and experience new things, to leave home and move onto the next stage of adulthood.

But it's not just big Life opportunities, I think of when I see this Word, as to me every moment, every breath is an opportunity to be and do the best we can in whatever situation we find ourselves today.

I'd love to know what you think of/feel when you see this week's Word :-)

First posted 1 September 2014I've missed a couple of these... First, because I scratched my eye quite badly one Sunday and simply couldn't see the screen (or much else!) for a few days :-(Then last Monday was a Bank Holiday in the UK, and I was recovering from a really great day out at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the The Hepworth Gallery- scroll down to previous posts to see photos...So here we are beginning another month(!!), and the card I pulled from the Rediscovery pack is a real goodie...

I'm sensing this may be a Word not just for this week, but for the rest of the year!We're entering my favourite month and season, where I usually have a creative surge... It's that new-term feeling that just never leaves me - no matter how many years since I started school :-)

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller

A sheltered life can be a daring life as well.

For all serious daring starts from within.

Eudora Welty

Having completed Lisa's ROOT 30-day journal project in August, I'm all fired up to dare to continue writing each day using this book...

And I just love the fresh, bright green background of this card, with invites creative energy and action.

Daring to play with watercolours...

... with collage...

... and photography.

(Looking out of the window at The Hepworth)

Do you share my love of this time of year? That new-term burst of energy and excitement? I'd love to hear what you think when you see this Word...

UPDATE

Next Monday is the Full Vine Moon, and I've just finished reading Amy Palko's thoughts as I begin to prepare for my making my September Dreamboard next week, and I realize these words are a perfect fit for my Word for the Week...

This Vine Moon, it is time to lose your inhibitions. It is time to dance like no-one is watching. It is time to enter the fray, your voice weaving effortlessly into the chaos that surrounds you. It is time to kick off your shoes and cast to one side any self-consciousness you might feel...

I think it's a Word that doesn't get the recognition it deserves - Can you imagine how the world would change if we truly lived by J.M Barrie and the Dalai Lama's words??

I know it's a cliche, but it's no less true - we need to 'be the change we wish to see in the world'. We need to practise kindness every day, and whenever we are unkind - which we will be sometimes (we are human, after all) - we must apologize and ask for forgiveness.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the background is the same colour as Honesty and Clarity - two things which can help us be kinder...

Monday again - where DO the days go?? Here's the card I pulled from the Rediscovery Pack this morning...

Well, this the perfect Word as I begin this course today... I'm hoping for an adventure into the hinterland of creative journalling... I've no idea what to expect, but as the course sold out quickly back in June, I'm guessing Claire's quite a teacher :-)The bright pink background is the same as the Fun card drawn back in March (scroll down the post to find the Word for the Week), and I hope to have fun on this course. Though, I know from experience Adventures often call upon many aspects of Life...For example, my year in Kenya back in 1987-88 was definitely an Adventure - with a BIG capital 'A'. And while I certainly had lots of Fun and met some amazing people (including my future husband!), it also called for Daring and Courage, Learning and Acceptance, and many other Words I've explored this year.For a girl from a quiet village in Lincolnshire, who had only been abroad for a weekend in Paris as a 21st birthday surprise, it was a dream come true. I'd loved Daktari and Born Free as a kid, and longed to see such animals in their natural habitat. And Out of Africa was a favourite films - I loved the soundtrack, especially - and I longed to see the Ngong Hills which had featured in the film, and which I could see from the college compound.

Photo from Google

Turns out, Nick (future hubby) and I had quite an Adventure on our first official date... On Valentine's Day 1988, he borrowed a friend's car and we headed out looking for Karen von Blixen's home high in the Hills... and we duly got utterly and hopelessly lost! We encountered wild baboons (nasty, terrifying creatures!), and stunning Masai women selling their intricately beaded jewellery on the side of the road, but we never did find the house... sigh... Thankfully we found the road back to Nairobi before we ran out of petrol (phew!), and so began a friendship that has lasted until this day, and surely a marriage is an awfully big life Adventure, right?I'd love to know what you think/feel when you see this Word...

Don't know why I couldn't get a good photo of today's card pulled from my Rediscovery Pack - poor lighting I guess, but it's none the less powerful for being a tad fuzzy...

I live my life in perpetual gratitude. Most days it's very easy to write at least 5 things I'm grateful for each day...

... and doing an exercise for this course the other day, making a quick list of a 100 blessings was very easy, I confess.But, it isn't always easy to be brimful of gratitude, I know...when you are in pain - physical or emotionalwhen you're tired, tense, wroughtwhen you feel overwhelmed, unloved, unappreciatedOn these days, even writing two things I'm grateful for is a struggle! But write them I do

Today I am grateful for...

the fact I can write

the fact I can hold a pen

each and every breath

For this is a spiritual practice, a discipline, something I do at the end of each day, so I fall into bed in a state of Gratitude - still tired, still in pain, but now grateful...

First posted 29 September 2014Well, the card I pulled this morning from my Rediscovery Pack feels like a real nudge in the ribs... maybe even a sharp jab, because it is the last thing I feel like...

This week, I am a mama nursing a fragile heart - our son went away to uni on Saturday, and I'm experiencing that 'lost limb' sensation that I've heard other parents describe when a child leaves home for the first time...I am so pleased for him - he was so ready! And I am really proud of him, and really excited for him - I LOVED my uni days!!! But oh, my heart hurts, and I'm struggling to smile, let alone laugh!

Our gorgeous kids taken last week on Sam's 19th birthday

I find it oh-so-interesting that the background is the same colour as this Word... I guess Laughter will greatly help the 'Emerging' process... As the saying goes it is 'the best medicine' and 'the earth laughs in flowers'...

I will endeavour to keep this Word at the forefront of my mind this week, but the truth is I feel I still need to sit with the loss... to know it, to own it... So that when I DO laugh, it will be full-hearted and not hollow.

I'd love to know what you think of this week's Word - what makes you laugh? And also, what do you think about laughing when your heart is aching...?

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This wee artwork has sat on my desk since 2009. It reminds me to experience each day deeply. As the text says at the very bottom, 'What a realisation of something more'. Click the image to visit its creator's corner of Blogland.

About Me

I suffered a serious stroke over 10 years ago (aged 43 at the time) and it's been a slow, often frustrating, recovery...
I lost my speech and was totally paralyzed on my right side, but with patience and regular physiotherapy, I can now speak, walk short distances, operate the computer, but my right side is still paralyzed. I get botox injections 3 times a year in my right bicep and forearm, which relaxes the high-tone muscles and makes it easier to stand and walk. Last year I started weekly sessions of hydrotherapy, where I build up the wasted muscles by exercising while supported by the warm water. It's bliss at the time, but I ache like heck next day - but it's so worth it :)